One of Those Things
by Down n Dirty
Summary: Elena Fisher was just trying to get over her breakup with Harry Flynn and get on with her life. Nathan Drake's at the right place at the wrong time and Elena's in a right mess she may or may not be able to get out of. A romance of sorts.


_Okay people, a new fanfic that I had to get out of my head. It's completely A/U, but hopefully the characters are still pretty much intact. It's pretty fluffy for me so I'm kind of unsure about it, but meh._

One Of Those Things

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Chapter 1

With one final click the latest and hopefully last revision of the story is complete. Elena Fisher doesn't quite know how to feel about this. It's the final piece for the antiquities magazine she'd been writing over a year for. The last one she'll ever write. A bittersweet feeling to a journey starting at the bottom as a temp, needing a job so badly and taking one she'd never would have picked for herself. Her skills and ability to draw readers in had quickly won her a spot at the top, writing full blown articles on various findings and even got her a couple stints actually reporting in front of a camera. She had a likable personality, was attractive enough and everything seemed to be working in her favor.

Then she'd met Harry Flynn and everything had changed.

Ian Stone the chief editor, had become Elena's closest confidant when it came to her writing. He praised her work and encouraged her to pursue things she'd never considered she would be any good at. Photography, for example was something she was growing fascinated with recently. All thanks to Ian and his sweet and kind words when he'd seen her messing around with a camera.

Right now as she enters his office for what will probably be the last time, he looks torn, more torn than she is. The paper stack falls on his desk like a ton of bricks. Both he and Elena stare at it. Neither wants to acknowledge what the stack means.

Ian is the first to break the silence. "So it's done then?"

Elena nods, strands of her blond hair fall from the messy bun atop her head. Her hazel eyes are filled with sadness as are Ian's.

"Well I can't say I'm happy about it."

Elena nods. "I know what you mean."

He sighs and runs a hand across his arm. "Are you sure about this Elena? You don't have to leave just because..."

Elena stops him. "I've already made up my mind, Ian." Her mind is set and once that happens, come hell or high water, nothings going to change it. She needs to leave this place and everything about it behind. "I'll be leaving tonight."

"What about Harry?"

"He can go to hell."

"Elena, maybe you should try to talk things out with him." Elena tries not to look annoyed, she knows he's only trying to help. The one drawback to having Ian as a boss was the relationship he shared with Harry. Good friends with more loyalty than apparent consideration for her feelings. "I'm sure he feels like an ass." He continues.

Elena raises a golden brow, she really doesn't want to talk about this right now. "Did he tell you that or is that merely speculation?." She asks coldly.

Ian sighs. "Elena.."

She shakes her head. "No Ian. I'm done. Me and Harry are through." Her eyes find the edge of his desk to keep from losing her handle. "_He_ made sure of that."

Ian looks like he still wants to argue, but nods anyway. "Well it's not going to be the same here without you, Fisher. You're one hell of a journalist." He peers his dark eyes at her. "And a damn good person at that."

Elena is touched and some of the annoyance eases away. "Thanks Ian, you've always been good to me. I appreciate the opportunities you've given me."

"I'm sorry it had to end this way."

Elena gives him a small smile. "Me too." He gets up to shake her hand and instead hugs her. It's hard but not impossible for her to pull away.

"Good Luck."

Elena leaves with the words bouncing in her head. Luck was something she was having little of and certainly none of it seemed by any rights _good_. Over twenty and heading home to be with her loving, understanding family seemed worse and worse the more she thought about it. Her mother could be overbearing and she didn't think she could deal with that at a time like this. It was natural for one to head for familiar territory during a crisis but Elena swore to herself it was only temporary. Until she could find a new place and job as far away from _here_ as possible.

There were a lot of things she could handle about Harry, his over confidence, his ability to be late for any and every date no matter the occasion and even to some degree, his flirtatious nature. It was the cheating that really killed her. Flirting was one thing, cheating was another.

"I don't know why you're so surprised."

Elena wondered not for the first time why Jada Hzujak even tried pretending to be her friend. It was obvious she hated Elena and the feeling wasn't anything short of mutual. Whether it was jealously, disdain or whatever other reason the girl just didn't like Elena, even though for some reason she wanted everyone to thing she did.

"Just take the badge, Jada." Elena says wearily. She slides her work badge at the dark haired girl who takes it and all but throws it in a drawer.

Jada continues, her hand perched under her chin. "Harry's way too hot to stick with one girl and no offense Elena but you're more interested in getting the next scoop than a relationship. Maybe it's for the best."

Elena rubs at her forehead, once again wishing people would just drop the subject of her chaotic personal life. She was trying to get over it and the fact that her relationship was so open to everyone for discussion was really starting to piss her off. "Maybe you're right Jada, I'll see you around."

"Call me if you need to talk." Jada calls after her. Elena tries to escape the building as quickly as she can and pretends not to hear her.

Elena makes a mental note to erase Jada from her address book. Since they won't be working together there was no point in keeping it. She certainly wasn't going to call her. Harry's would have to go too, that would be harder seeing as she knew it both backwards and forwards and erasing it from her phone wouldn't be erasing it from her head.

In her haste, she nearly topples into a guy on the way out. She apologizes but he doesn't seem to hear or even acknowledge that she'd bumped into him. He's too busy on his phone where he's arguing colorfully with someone on the other line. He slams the phone against his palm.

"...Goddamn, piece of shit..."

Elena waves him off. Another jerk too preoccupied with his phone to notice the things going on around him. Probably drove with the thing attached to his ear and ended up on the wrong side of the road, another statistic just waiting to happen.

Los Angeles was filled with them, jerk offs who thought they were above the law and that their time was more precious than gold. It was one of the few, yet biggest reasons Elena was glad she was going to New Mexico, where things were drastically different. Good old fashioned hospitality was not something anyone in L.A. really possessed. This guy is a prime example of that.

Speaking of jack offs, Elena's surprised, and yet not, to find one leaning against the hood of her red jeep. Her first instinct is to turn and run the other way but she knows it's not going to be that easy. She can't run from her problems and apparently, she can't run from Harry either.

Her tone is curt. "What do you want, Harry?"

The handsome man gives her a brow raise, like he thinks he's James Bond or something. It's suave and something she used to find charming, right now all it does is make her want to punch him. "I thought we could have a little chat." His voice, the accent that was once so sexy now sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

"I have nothing to say to you, so if you could please get off my car."

Harry does so but only so he can move closer to her. She looks down, not into his eyes somewhere near his collarbone and takes a step back. "Now you're in my way."

"Elena you don't have to do this."

She tries not to laugh. "Did Ian put you up to this? Sorry Harry, I'm done." She tries moving around him but he blocks her. She glares at him. "If you want to talk to someone so bad. How about that other woman you were sleeping with? I'm sure you two have lots in common."

Harry shakes his head, dark hair flying. "No Ian has nothing to do with this. You know how I feel about you, luv. I made a mistake, it happens to the best of us."

"No, sorry Flynn it doesn't." She tries using his last name to prove her point of just how pissed off she is. "Now if you could please move.."

"I've missed you." he murmurs quietly.

"It's only been two weeks." she says bitterly. Two weeks felt like ten years as far as she was concerned but she wasn't going to tell him that.. She couldn't let him know how much it hurt her. How much _he_ had hurt her.

"This can't be what you want."

She stares at him. "Since when have you cared what I want?"

"Oh please Elena don't be dramatic."

"I can be dramatic all I want. You cheated on me, remember?"

"A mistake I am beginning to regret."

"Beginning?" She'd heard enough. "Harry move out of the way. I'm done playing this game. Do us both a favor and go home."

He doesn't and further grounds his position in front of her. "Only if you come with me."

She scrubs at her face angrily. "I can't." She all but yells.

"Why?" He has the audacity to ask her.

"Because." Her mind searches for the right answer. So many different options weave in and out of her brain. She picks the first one that comes to her.

"Because I'm, with someone else now."

Harry stares at her, his eyes bug slightly but then he further insults her by doing something so Harry-like she can't help getting even more pissed. He laughs. "You're with someone else? Who?" He all but taunts her.

Her anger has overtaken her and Elena isn't thinking straight. In fact, she's not thinking at all. Is it so inconceivable that she would find someone else after Harry? He wasn't the end of all men despite what he seemed to think.

"It's..." she wracks her brain. Her eyes wander for some clue to help her with her lie. She's coming up empty. Then she catches the one thing that can possibly help her. The one _person_. "Him."

Her finger points before she can stop it. Harry eyes follow the appendage and he looks unconvinced. "That guy?"

Elena nods, knowing there's no way Harry's going to believe her. She has to be more effective in her fallacy. Before she can properly reason with herself why she's even doing this she strides towards the guy from earlier. The one she'd pointed too and the one she'd written off. Harry thankfully doesn't follow her. The guy is off his phone now and looking through a notebook of some kind. He doesn't recognize her this time either, that is until she gives him no other choice.

She's in his face before he knows it. He gives her an odd stare, completely clueless. "Um, can I help you?"

"Look this is going to sound crazy, but can you please do this for me?" She rushes out, quietly so Harry can't hear.

He leans closer so he can hear her and raises a brow. "Do what?"

She doesn't answer, not with her words anyway. She answers with her lips, which she crushes on his in a rather impromptu and startling kiss. The poor guy is shocked, she can tell, but for whatever reason he doesn't push her off. "Just roll with it, okay?" She whispers as she breaks contact. She doesn't wait for a response and instead drags the guy with her. He doesn't say anything, but follows.

Harry's demeanor is something she can't quite describe. He looks both shocked and more than a little pissed, he's still wearing a smile though. Like he's trying to retain his cool. He looks more irritated the closer they get.

"Harry, this is..." She pretends to cough and gives the guy a slight nudge with her elbow. He doesn't get it at first but then something clicks and he supplies the answer. With way more finesse than she would have thought.

"Nate." he says.

"Nate." she echoes, turning back to Harry.

"Ya don't say." Harry all but scoffs. "Well this changes things, doesn't it?"

"How so, _Larry_?" The guy, who Elena can safely assume actually_ is_ named Nate, asks casually. He puts great emphasis on clearly saying the wrong name. His question startles Elena and Harry's eyes darken. Not a good sign.

Harry's mouth curls. "Cute. He's precious Elena, where did you pick him up, the bus stop?"

Before she can answer Nate jumps in. "What's wrong with the bus stop? People got to get around, you know." He asks. Elena can't tell if he's playing dumb on not, she certainly hopes so.

Harry eyes him like an insect of some kind, one he wants to stomp out. "Well Elena, I can see your tastes have clearly _improved._"

"Well I don't know_ Larry,_ you're quite a handsome man yourself. I bet all the ladies love you." Nate puts a finger to his chin. "Anyone ever tell you that you could play James Bond? Although..." He pauses and both Elena and Harry are looking at him."...you might want to work on the accent a bit more, it's not quite right. Still sounds a little fake to me."

Harry grits his teeth. "It's Harry and my accent is not fake."

Nate doesn't look surprised, he smirks. "Oh, well my apologies then."

"Is this some kind of joke." Harry demands.

Nate blinks. "Why? Is it funny?"

Elena steps in, before Harry rips the guy to shreds. "Anyways, it's been nice catching up Harry, but I was just going to show Nate around the place, so if you don't mind.."

"You mean the building with the job you just quit?" Harry asks.

Nate looks at her. "You quit your job?" He asks.

Elena looks from one to the other. Her head hurts from the effort of trying to keep it addressees Nate with a clenched smile. "Yeah, I told you that, _remember_?"

He scratches his head. "Yeah, but I thought you would at least wait until you finished the last interview you agreed to do."

Elena frowns, how in the world would he have deduced that? It's was a publishing firm sure, but how would he know she wasn't just a secretary or something and not a journalist? And how on earth would have guessed she actually did promise one last interview that she'd been unable to do due to time constraints. "I canceled that." she says pointedly.

He raises a brow. "Did you?"

She nods uncertainly. "Yeah."

He makes a small sound of acknowledgment.

Harry clears his throat. He tries to not sound as annoyed as Elena's sure he is. He doesn't like being ignored.

"Well then, I guess now that you've got this." Harry gestures at Nate. "It's only a matter of time before you call me so don't lose my number, alright?"

"Aw come on, I thought we could be friends, got get a few beers, hang out. You know guy stuff." Nate says with a stupid smile.

"Yeah, I don't think so. Great look though." Harry gestures with his hand. "The whole _unclean _thing. It really suits you."

"Really, you think so?" Nate looks down at himself. "I'm glad you noticed, I've been really trying at it."

Harry makes a face and looks at Elena. "Jesus, Elena I really hope this is phase or something. If this bloke is your new standard then I weep for your future."

"Goodbye, Harry." Elena says curtly. She pulls Nate away from him and is sure that Harry is glaring at his replacement. Nate kind of is a step down, but not totally irredeemable. He was tall, well built and had a ordinarily attractive way about him. Then Elena remembers that none of this is real and she'd just dragged some poor guy into her dirty laundry.

As soon as Harry is long out of view, she collapses against one of the back walls of the building. She expects Nate to make a run for it but he doesn't. Instead he crosses his arms and waits for her inevitable breakdown. Which she has.

"Oh my god." She gasps.

Nate nods. "Indeed."

She turns to him, unsure of where to start. "I am so sorry, about that. I..I've never done anything like that before in my life." That was true. Elena didn't even talk to guys she didn't know, much less go up and randomly kiss them. " I just panicked and well...I'm really sorry."

Nate observes her for a moment then shrugs. "Could be worse."

She wasn't sure what he meant by that, she was just glad he hadn't flipped out on her. "Thank you." She breathes.

"Please tell me all your exes aren't like that."

She shakes her head and chokes on a laugh. "No." Harry was different from the others, she'd thought he'd been special.

"Did you really quit your job?" He asks suddenly.

Elena instinctively observes him. Something about his tone, it's a bit too serious. "Yes, I said that before."

He gives a light shrug. "Well I wasn't sure if you were pretending or not. You are Elena Fisher, aren't you?"

She gapes. "How did you know?"

"You're not exactly unknown in the business, you know?" He says.

"Who, who are you?" she stutters.

He grins. "I'm Nathan Drake, your last interview."

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Yes, no, maybe, so...Reviews...pretty please?


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